Try to learn to play the guitar and thought I was doing ok but my fingers were not hurting and and no matter how I try it the tips of my fingers are always touching more then one string. The book says I'm not pressing hard enough on the frets . so i press hard but now the string I press sounds mute an my tips are stopping the strings below the ones I'm touching from playing ( mostly the 1st and 2nd finger but some times the third like with a B7 and a c7) so one finger is press two strings.. what do I do?
you are not supposed to place your fingers on the frets !! fingers are placed between the frets
If your book really says that, it's wrong. You NEVER press on a fret, you should press just behind it. If you press down ON the fret then, yes, you will mute the strings. You should press just hard enough for the string to make contact with the fret and vibrate cleanly. If your guitar is reasonably set-up it should not require much pressure. Pressing any harder will most likely send the string(s) sharp and make your fingers and even your whole hand sore. Touching strings with your fretting fingers that you don't want to touch is a completely separate problem that has nothing to do with how hard you press. Everyone has this problem when they start playing. You need to position your hand and fingers correctly but it's really just a matter of practice. Make sure that you are fretting individual strings with the tips of your fingers - not the pads - and that your fingers are coming down on the strings from above and not from the side. Often it's the position of the whole hand that's the problem. I'd be practicing that with simpler chords like Am, D and Em before going onto chords like B7 and C7 which ate more likely to get your fingers in a tangle. As I say though, practice is the only answer. Good luck.
maybe watch some youtube videos and see how they do it and compare to yourself?
